


but innocence is gone, and what was right is wrong

by QueenIsabelle



Series: night visions [4]
Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/M, Jelsa - Freeform, Jelsa Week 2019, Modern AU, Nightmares, One Shot, but still cute, okay this one is slightly angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-24 16:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21341308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenIsabelle/pseuds/QueenIsabelle
Summary: Jelsa Week 2019Prompt Day 4: NightmaresJack and Elsa are best friends. Elsa’s parents died, and she has nightmares about their death. Elsa sneaks into Jack’s dorm one night after a bad nightmare, and he comforts her.
Relationships: Elsa (Disney) & Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), Elsa (Disney)/Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood)
Series: night visions [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1535909
Kudos: 84





	but innocence is gone, and what was right is wrong

* * *

Jack Frost has been in love with his best friend, Elsa Winters, before he ever really knew what love was. This was simply a fact. So what if Elsa had never shown romantic interest in anybody—he had once asked her if she was ace, and she’d simply shrugged and said, “Who knows?” before walking into her next class—it wouldn’t change the fact that she was the only one for Jack. It was like a fact of life. The sky was blue, and Jack loved Elsa.

He would do anything for his best friend, and vice versa, which is why he didn’t even blink when he woke up at two in the morning to find Elsa in her pajamas, standing outside of his dorm room.

“Jack?” This happened so often that it wasn’t even really a question anymore. He opened his arms wordlessly and folded her into his embrace. He managed to close the door and guide her to his bed, the both of them climbing under his covers to stay warm. In the back of his mind, Jack was grateful that his roommate, Hiccup, had decided to ask out that girl in his math class he had a crush on—Astrid, maybe? Whoever she was, they must have really hit it off, because Hiccup had texted Jack around midnight saying that he wouldn’t be back to the room. This worked out well because Elsa hated it when people saw her cry. (Jack being the one exception, of course.)

“What was it this time, Els?” Jack murmured against her hair. She curled her arms around his chest and shoved her head under his chin, tears dripping down and soaking the collar of his shirt.

“I—” she hiccuped. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” Her words slurred slightly from fatigue. Her body still shook in his arms, but he was glad to see that she was beginning to calm down.

“Your parents?” he asked. She said nothing, but he took her silence as an answer. “Do you want me to call Anna?”

“No!” Elsa said, her voice caught ragged on a deep breath. “She has the SATs tomorrow.”

Anna was a few years younger than Jack and Elsa, still stuck in hell school as Jack fondly nicknamed it. Elsa wanted Anna to still be able to be a kid and not worry about her elder sister’s PTSD. Jack would never tell her, but Anna knew and worried constantly. Jack did his best to keep her updated.

“Okay, I won’t,” Jack said, but he made a mental note to text Anna sometime tomorrow afternoon to let her know what happened. Elsa felt that it was her responsibility as the big sister to be strong all of the time, but Jack knew that that only made things worse. No matter how hard he tried to convince her, though, Elsa still refused. But that was okay—healing wasn’t linear, and he was willing to take as many baby steps as necessary.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Jack asked after a few moments of silence. Elsa’s shaking had finally calmed down to a few tremors, and her breathing began to slow down into a rhythm of sleep.

“This is enough,” Elsa sighed. Jack tightened his arms around her and wished that he could do more.

* * *

When they were sixteen years old, Jack had taken Anna and his own younger sister, Emma, out for the day so that Elsa could study for her own SATs one Saturday. Mr. and Mrs. Winters had had a trip unexpectedly cancelled, so they were home as well, working on things for the company and various charities. While the family was working, someone broke into their house and shot the two adults, while Elsa had hidden in a closet and witnessed it happen. She’d called 911 and attempted to revive her parents, but it had been too late. The Winters’ had been pronounced dead at the scene while their eldest daughter struggled to remove their blood from under her fingernails.

That night was the first night that Elsa snuck into Jack’s bedroom, eyes red and hands raw. _I can’t get the blood off, Jack. Everytime I close my eyes, all I see is their blood._ Jack simply held her while she cried herself to sleep. And it had happened nearly every night since.

* * *

When Jack woke next, it was with a ray of sunlight burning into his eyes and a mouthful of blonde hair. He stretched his neck back, wincing at the crick his sleeping position had caused, and attempted to spit out strands of hair. The warmth laying across his chest shifted slightly at his movement but settled quickly back into sleep. On autopilot, Jack began to stroke her loose hair, the only time that he ever saw it in that hairstyle. For a brief moment, Jack wished that the beautiful girl in his arms was there because she wanted to be, rather than chased there by terrifying nightmares that wouldn’t leave her alone, but he pushed that thought away as soon as it came. Elsa was his best friend; she loved and cared for him out of the goodness of her heart, and she deserved someone who did the same, not who waited around on the off chance that she might grace him with a kiss.

“Jack?” Elsa croaked. Jack found Elsa to be at her funniest first thing in the morning due to her being completely and utterly unpoised. She hadn’t had time to brush her hair or teeth; she was drowsy with sleep; and she didn’t have enough brain power to put up the cool facade of politely uninterested.

“Yeah?” Jack said, his own voice still low with sleep.

“What time is it?”

Who knows? Who cares?” He groaned as he stretched, his arms reaching above his head to touch the wall. Elsa’s palms landed flat on his chest to steady herself, and she huffed.

“I care. I wanted to wish Anna luck before she went to take her test.”

“Anna knows you’re thinking about her. She doesn’t need a text at five in the morning.”

“It is not five in the morning,” Elsa said, unimpressed.

“It might as well be.” Jack threw an arm over his eyes dramatically. He could hear Elsa roll her eyes.

“You’re ridiculous.” The bed moved as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

“Where are you going?” Jack asked. It was Saturday; Saturdays were meant for hanging out. He had managed to convince Elsa early on in their freshman year that she could hang out with him the first day of the weekend and still have all of Sunday to do her homework. It had taken a few weeks for the message to kick in, but now it was a ritual.

“To pee, you dork.” Elsa laughed as she got up and walked across the room. Jack stuck his tongue out at her back. He reached over to his nightstand to pick up his phone. He may have teased Elsa about asking, but he did want to know what time it was. 7:46 am. Still very early. Jack groaned and let his head drop onto his mattress.

“Okay, what time is it?” Elsa said, having returned from the bathroom. Jack showed her his phone screen, head still facedown on the bed. “Oh, it’s later than usual.”

“You’re a monster,” Jack said without missing a beat. He rolled over onto his back and held his arms open. “Come back here and let me sleep some more.”

“You don’t need me to sleep,” Elsa said, her cheeks turning a light pink.

“Hey, it’s Saturday. Saturdays are meant for hanging out, and right now, I want to hang out by sleeping.” He scooched over on the bed to make more room for her and motioned to the remote on his nightstand. Elsa sighed but acquiesced, laying down beside him and resting her head on his shoulder. As Jack closed his eyes, he heard the TV turn on as Elsa began to look for something to watch.

Some time later, Jack woke up once more, this time with his head in Elsa’s lap. Some animated show was on the screen, but she was invested in something on his phone.

“What are you doing?” Jack asked, poking her thigh. Elsa jumped slightly and dropped the phone onto his face.

“Shit! Sorry!”

“What were you looking at?” Jack said, using one hand to rub his forehead while the other picked up his phone. His stomach dropped at what was on the screen: newspaper articles discussing the Winters’ double homicide. Jack sat up and looked at his best friend. “Elsa?”

She was looking down at her hands, mouth scrunched up in an attempt to keep herself from crying. (She always tried; it never worked, not around Jack anyway.)

“It was… just bad last night,” she said, her voice high and tight.

“Still don’t want to talk about it?” Jack asked. Elsa shook her head.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I can’t,” Elsa said. Tears began to roll down her face. Jack swallowed hard but remained silent. “I— I don’t want you to think of me differently.”

“Elsa, what do you mean?”

“I mean… yeah, I’m the girl with the murdered parents, but that doesn’t mean you have to know exactly how fucked up I am. And if I tell you what I dream about… I just… I want you to think I’m strong and— and worthy.”

“Elsa,” Jack said, grabbing her shoulders and looking at her. “You are the strongest person I know. Nightmares or no. Nothing you can tell me is ever going to change that. And worthy? Worthy of what? Happiness? You deserve all of the happiness in the world, and I would fight anyone who said otherwise, including my mother.” A laugh escaped Elsa at that, and Jack grinned.

“But you don’t have to tell me anything either. I’m here for you, no matter what. Always.” Jack stared into Elsa’s eyes, willing her to believe him. She took it one step further.

She leaned forward and kissed him, softly, slowly.

Jack stayed frozen in place, mouth slightly open and eyes wide as Elsa pulled away from him and shyly tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

“Thank you, Jack,” she said.

“Wh- what was that?” he asked.

“I’m sorry. I should have asked, but I was a little caught up in the moment.”

Jack blinked. “Why did you kiss me?”

“Because I wanted to. Did you not want me to? I’m sorry—” Jack cut her off by kissing her again.

“No, no, I liked it,” Jack assured her. Elsa smiled and touched her forehead to his.

Jack Frost was in love with his best friend. And it looked like she might be in love with him.

* * *

“Okay, so let me grab my backpack and then we can go to the library?” Hiccup said over his shoulder to Astrid. She grinned, arms thrown around his shoulders as they came up to his door.

“Sounds good,” she agreed. She hummed as Hiccup dug out his keys and unlocked the door. His roommate, Jack, and his best friend, Elsa, were sat in his bed, watching some movie on the TV. Jack nodded to Hiccup as Elsa waved, though neither really moved their focus from whatever it was they were watching. Astrid stood by silently as Hiccup quickly grabbed his things, bid farewell to his roommate, and then left the room once more.

“They’re seriously not together?” Astrid asked, pointing back at the closed door. Hiccup shrugged.

“We have a bet going.”


End file.
